One of the great features that many liked about Autodesk BIM 360 Team was that people outside of BIM 360 could be invited to a project and access files. When Autodesk made the switch to BIM 360 Document Management as primary storage platform for all of its BIM 360 modules, this feature was lost, leaving many users with frustration in getting file access to non-subscription holders. Some users started looking at other sources for file sharing like Dropbox, SharePoint, etc., since these other sources had the ability to share files through a link but did not require logging in.
After years of hoping, Autodesk has created the ability to create public share links within BIM 360 Document Management. These links can be shared with non-subscription holders to download the shared files. This opens the ability to use BIM 360 Document Management in a larger file sharing capacity in addition to the many advanced functions that BIM 360 Document Management already has to offer.
Enabling Public File Sharing:
This setting must be turned on in order to be able to create the public sharable links.
- Under the Project Admin module, select the Services Tab
- Select Document Management in the left column and select Advanced Settings
- The top setting is “Public Link for Project”, select the dot to enable the setting.
Now that the public link setting is enabled, files from the Project Files folder can be shared outside of the BIM 360 without needing a subscription license, the individual files can be shared.
Creating Public Sharable Links:
Sharing files must be located within the Project Files folder.
- Under the Document Management module, select the Folder Tab.
- Select the file(s) you would like to share publicly.
- Along the top, select the Share button.
A dialogue box will pop up with sharing options.
- Share with project members.
- Share with public.
“Share with project members” allows for sharing the files to different members within the project. There are two different sharing methods (Email or Link). All Recipient must be part of the project already and will be required to log into the site.
- Email sharing allows for the files to be shared using one of four different methods, Names, Roles, Companies or Email address already within the project, similar to applying permissions to project folders.
- Link sharing allows for the files to be shared with a unique url link that can be sent via email through different email programs or posted somewhere for easy access.
Share with public, allows for files to be shared outside of the project to non-project team members with and without a subscription to BIM 360 Document Management. There are two different sharing methods (Email or Link). Either way is sharing a link to someone else.
- Email allows the sharer to send the link via email through BIM 360.
- Link allows the sharer to copy and paste the link into a different email program to share or post the link somewhere for the public to access.
When creating a Sharable Public link, the sharer can set an expiration date for the link that disables the sharing of that particular file.
With BIM 360, document version is an important function and feature of the system. Unlike many other sharing platforms, BIM 360 has ability for the user to identify which version they would like to share when creating a Publicly sharable link.
- “Share Current version Latest” creates a sharable link that monitors the latest version of the file so that when the recipient accesses the file, they are getting the latest published or uploaded version of the file.
- “Share Current version Fixed”, creates a shareable link that is fixed on the file’s current version of when it was originally shared. This means if a new version is published or uploaded, it will not affect the version that was shared through the link.
Accessing Shared Files via Public Link:
Once a file is shared via the public link via an email through BIM 360, the recipient will get an email with a link to the file that looks similar to below, containing information on the project it came from. If the link is shared with an outside source (Outlook), then the email will look different.
When the link is selected, the recipient is directed to a webpage to download the file. The file can only be downloaded.
- The clock at the top, when hovered over shows the expiration date of the link.
- The version of the file is displayed along the top.
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